There was a musical box that emitted a faintly sinister, tinkling tune when wound, and they all found themselves becoming curiously weak and sleepy until Ginny had the sense to slam the lid shut; also a heavy locket that none of them could open, a number of ancient seals and, in a dusty box, an Order of Merlin, First Class, that had been awarded to Sirius's grandfather for "Services to the Ministry." (C6 – OOTP)

"There was a locket."
"What?" said Harry and Ron together.
"In the cabinet in the drawing room. Nobody could open it. And we . . . we . . ."
Harry felt as though a brick had slid down through his chest into his stomach. He remembered: he had even handled the thing as they passed it around, each trying in turn to prise it open. (C10 – DH)

Chapter 1

In Twelve Grimmauld Place, there was bustling of activity as several teenagers and a few adults were cleaning up the old and decrepit house.

One of them was Harry Potter. Fifteen years old with untamed black hair, curious green eyes and a lightning scar on his forehead. He was one of the most famous wizards in the world, but in these days, he was on his way to becoming the delusional laughingstock as perpetually indicated in the Daily Prophet.

However Harry was anything but that. He liked to think of himself as a normal teen and despised his fame. Once a mild-mannered young boy, now an angry teen furious at the world around him.

"Come on Harry, you try and open it," said Ron, handing Harry the locket everyone else was trying to unlock.

Ron was Harry's closest friend, but these days he was feeling angry at his friends. For all intents and purposes, he pretended to forget that his friends had ignored him over the Summer, following the orders that Dumbledore that bestowed on them. He only pretended to forget because it was easier.

But Harry tried to open it and was unsuccessful. The locket couldn't be turned, it wouldn't open up like a pocket mirror. It was utterly sealed.

But he found himself curious by the unopenable object. He brought it over to the bag and made it look like he had put the locket in the bag, instead he pocketed it in his out-of-sight right pocket.

It remained in his pocket all day. When Mrs Weasley told them that night to go to bed, Harry just sat there in the sitting room, as Mrs Weasley started dragging a furious Ginny out of the room.

"Harry," said Hermione. "What are you doing? Go to bed."

"Nah," said Harry. "I'm going to sit here and talk to Sirius a bit."

Hermione drew herself up straight, ready to demand Harry to go to bed, when Ron grasped her by the shoulders.

"Let them talk, Hermione," he said, steering her out of the room, and nodding to Harry, who nodded back at him, silently thanking him.

"What's wrong, Harry?" asked Sirius.

Harry didn't have the chance to answer as Mrs Weasley stormed into the room.

"Go to bed, Harry," she ordered.

"I'd like to sit up for a few minutes to talk to Sirius," said Harry.

"YOU WILL NOT," she screeched.

"Why not?" queried Harry.

"He is not a good example to you Harry," she thundered. "He is a mess who thinks you are your father."

Now Harry was angry. He stood up and looked Mrs Weasley dead in the eye.

"He is my godfather," said Harry in a furious whisper. "Chosen by my parents to be there for me. He is trying to be there for me because I'm his godson, not because I'm his son's orphaned friend."

Somehow, Harry felt satisfaction in what he said, despite knowing it was cruel.

Mrs Weasley gaped at him. It was clear she was shocked from seeing this side of him.

Harry knew he had the upper hand as she had not responded. "Leave us alone."

Mrs Weasley continued to stare at Harry as she walked away.

"Sirius, lock it and cast an Imperturbable Charm," said Harry, as he did not hear any footsteps walking away.

Harry did hear her footsteps walking away before Sirius finished the charm.

"Harry," he said sombrely. "I know I don't really see eye-to-eye with her, but there wasn't any need to talk to her like that."

"She's been mistreating you in your own house," said Harry bluntly. "Why do you put up with it?"

Sirius thought for only a second. "She's an excellent cook."

Harry laughed at that. He honestly couldn't fault Sirius for that. He loved Mrs Weasley's cooking. When it came to food, Mrs Weasley knew what she was doing.

"Sirius," said Harry. "I found something upstairs earlier I found curious. Unlike the rest of the stuff we cleaned up though, it didn't make us sleepy or do anything at all."

Harry pulled the locket out of his pocket and handed it to Sirius.

He saw his godfather look over it carefully, examining every inch of the locket.

"It has the Slytherin family crest on it," said Sirius in wonder. "This locket is incredibly old. I know that because the Slytherin name died out four hundred years ago. The new families the Slytherins married into, they took the name of their spouse. This locket would have then been continually passed down."

Sirius put the locket on the coffee table. "How it got into this family, I have no idea. Us Black's were lifelong Slytherins, but we are not descended from Slytherin. Otherwise, I'd be able to communicate with snakes."

Harry was uncomfortable where the conversation was heading.

"Honestly I wouldn't mind that," said Sirius. "Parseltongue is only feared because of Voldemort. Before Voldemort it was the most revered magical language across the world. Historians, dragon tamers, goblins, and many others are deeply entranced by the language, me included. I hated it once, but then I learnt about in the family library upstairs. My old dad has several books on the subject."

"Anyway I digress, how this came to be here I don't understand," said Sirius, taking out his wand and casting several spells on it. "There is only one charm on this, but I can't decipher it. However, it doesn't seem like a dark spell."

"You keep this Harry," he said, smiling at Harry as he handed it back. "I'm not a descendant, but the Potter's are."

"WHAT?" asked Harry dumbstruck.

"Your dad and your grandad trusted me implicitly," he said. "It's not commonly known anymore, but until the end of the eighteenth century every Potter was traditionally sorted into Slytherin. Now the name Potter is associated with Gryffindor."

Harry was dumbstruck.

"You can speak Parseltongue, can't you Harry," it was not a question.

"Er, yes," said Harry, feeling at a loss for words. "But Dumbledore said that Voldemort transferred that power to me."

"That's a load of bullocks," growled Sirius. "Your dad was also a Parselmouth. Your grandad was, your great-grandad was. Your dad kept it quiet as it was wartime and people had becomed prejudiced about it. I only found out by accident when I visited your dad once without telling him. He was in your grandad's basement conversing with a snake. I was so jealous."

Harry laughed at that, but suddenly he was curious. He had heard stories of his dad, but never of his grandparents. They had clearly died before his dad though otherwise he would have been placed with them, so he had never met them.

"What were my grandparents like Sirius?"

Sirius started chortling. "Your grandad was the cleverest wizard I have ever met," he said. "Let me tell you a story. The first time your dad invited me around I was expecting to meet a young couple. Your grandparents were old though. They were in their late sixties. They didn't have your dad until their mid-fifties. I proved a Gryffindor myself with the first thing I said. I said: "James, is this your grand-parents? Your dad just whispered 'you asked for it' and the next thing I know, I'm dragged into your grandma Euphemia's potions room, where she fed me a prank potion that gave me wrinkles, made me bald temporarily, and a giant white beard that would have made Dumbledore envious."

Harry fell out of his seat laughing, clutching at his sides.

"That's hilarious Sirius," laughed Harry. "You said my grandma's name was Euphemia, but what was my grandad's name."

"Fleamont."

"Fleamont Potter," said Harry incredulously. "Wait a minute, I think I've seen that name before."

"Take your time," said Sirius, sending Harry a smirk refusing to divulge any clues.

But Harry was completely lost. He knew he had seen the name Fleamont before, but he couldn't place where.

Seeing his godson would not get it, Sirius grabbed the bottle from by the fire where he had seen Ginny put it. He put it into Harry's hands.

Harry looked at the label: Sleekeazy's Hair Potion. Below the words were the inscription A Fleamont Potter Creation.

Harry was astounded. His own grandfather had created the Wizarding World's most famous hair potion. He had seen plenty of girls preparing their hair for the Yule Ball with this bottle.. Then he let out a laugh.

"Sirius," he laughed. "Isn't this ironic. I mean, look at my hair."

Sirius was now laughing himself. "Your dad was the same."

"What else did my grandfather create?" asked Harry.

"Let's see," wondered Sirius. "The Ravenna Potion, it helps blindness in wizards. There's the Avra Potion, it helps you learn languages at an accelerated rate. And he also owned several businesses in Diagon Alley. Giulia Industries, they produce wandlore for crafting, they're in Sicily. Cambes Ruelle, a French movie production company, And your great-grandad Henry Potter started up Odgen's, they produce fine wine, whiskey, bourbon, and others to the Wizarding public. Named the place after a friend of his."

"That's where you get your money from Harry," said Sirius. "Your actually wealthier than the Black's and Malfoy's combined."

Harry sucked in a breath. "I'm that rich."

"Indeed you are," said Sirius. "Anyway Harry, it is now late. Put that locket on and go upstairs to bed. I'm rather tired myself."

Harry placed the locket around his neck and followed his godfather upstairs.

"Goodnight, Harry," said Sirius, pulling Harry in for a hug. "It's great to have you here with me."

Harry smiled up at his godfather before going into his and Ron's room. He got into his pyjamas, brushed his teeth, and went to bed, the locket still around his neck. While he slept, the unknown hidden power of the locket started imbuing its magic in it's wearer. It helped the locket that another part of its soul was so close.

lIlIlIlIl

Despite having had a nice night chatting with his godfather, Harry woke up in a bad mood the next morning at eight.

Harry started getting dressed, trying his best to ignore the loud snores coming from Ron. However, by the time he was ready to leave the room Ron let out a particularly large snort before his snoring got louder.

"Oh for God's sake," muttered Harry. He took his hand off the doorknob and went to Ron's bedside.

"STOP THAT BLOODY SNORING," he screeched in Ron's ear.

Ron shot up and promptly fell off the bed.

Harry couldn't help it. He laughed at the sight. Something just felt great screaming at Ron and making him fall off the bed.

"What the bloody hell, Harry!" cried Ron. "Let me sleep."

"It's eight in the morning, Ron," growled Harry. "Get up like any normal person would."

Ron glared at him before climbing back into bed.

"I'm going back to sleep," moaned Ron. "Go away."

"Okay," said Harry. "I'll just tell the twins to wake you up."

"You wouldn't?" said Ron, shocked at Harry's threat.

"Try me," smiled Harry. He heard Ron mumble "he won't." as he walked away.

Harry softly knocked on the door of the twins room before opening it. They were both awake and chatting quietly.

"Good morning twins," Harry quietly singsonged.

Fred and George looked up at Harry, unused to being approached in such a manner.

"Morning Harry," they spoke in unison.

"What's first in your plans today?" asked Harry.

"Eat breakfast."

"Well, I've got something you can do beforehand," Harry said cryptically. "Ron refuses to wake up and is snoring. Can you help him?"

With a wink Harry left. The two boys looked at each other, at first alarmed at what Harry said. But then they smiled and made their way to Ron's room.

Downstairs Harry went into the kitchen to see Mrs Weasley in the process of cooking a fry-up.

"Mmm," said Harry. "Something smells delicious in here."

Mrs Weasley turned to look at him with a smile. "Thank you Harry. For that, you get a second helping of your choice. What'll it be?"

"Bacon," said Harry instantly.

At that moment a loud scream permeated throughout the house.

"Ronniekins," cried Mrs Weasley, intending to put down the spatula and see what had happened to her baby boy.

But before she could there came a roar.

"HARRY! I'LL KILL YOU!"

"What did you do to Ron, Harry?" she asked sternly, her hands on her hips.

"He wouldn't wake up," said Harry. "So I asked Fred and George to wake him up."

There came a brief laugh from Arthur at the end of the table before it was stifled.

"We only use that as a last resort, Harry," growled Mrs Weasley. "We only say it to him to really get him up. The threat works, but we've never mentioned it to Fred and George. Excuse me."

She started leaving the room, only for Ron to come barrelling into the kitchen. His hair was blonde and had slugs all over it.

"I'll kill you, Harry," he growled, lunging at Harry who sidestepped and ran to the other end of the table, only to find his collar grabbed by Mr Weasley.

"Come on Harry," he said, half stern and half smiling. "Surely you know you went a little far."

He pulled Harry to his other side and put his hand out to catch his rampaging son by the collar.

"Come on Ron," he also said in the same tone he used with Harry. "I understand your anger, but hitting Harry won't do any good."

"Didn't you once hit Lucius Malfoy?" growled Ron.

"That was different," Arthur pointed out. "He insulted our family. You always stand up for family. But you don't fight with friends. Besides Ron, we've threatened you with Fred and George before to get up. You should have seen it coming."

Ron's anger deflated. "You're right dad," he grumbled. "I'm sorry."

Arthur looked at Harry.

"I'm sorry for what the twins did to you," said Harry, but he knew it wasn't an apology. It was more like a condolence for what the twins did to Ron.

Luckily for Harry, Ron was too thick to realise it. "It's okay, Harry."

"But seriously Ron," chimed Harry. "You need to stop snoring like that. I'm amazed you haven't woken the dead."

During the conversation, everyone in Grimmauld Place came down to the kitchen, all awakened from Ron's scream. They all started laughing like mad, Even Mrs Weasley was hiding a smile as she leant over the frying pan.

Ron was mutinous at the laughter but sat down and crossed his arms, looking like a petulant child.

Harry couldn't explain it, but he felt oddly satisfied with himself as he watched Ron be embarrassed. It felt glorious.

After Harry had his breakfast he decided to go upstairs to the library. Sirius after all had said that there were Parseltongue books up there he was curious about.

However, he couldn't get in. So he went back downstairs to Sirius.

"Sirius, why is the library locked?"

"Because of me," Hermione said morosely. "They won't let me in there."

"No one is allowed in there," scowled Mrs Weasley. "The Black's were renowned for dark magic. I do not want any of you in there."

"They were also known for politics," said Harry smoothly. "Maybe there is a few law books in there that can help with my hearing."

"Don't worry, Harry," beamed Mrs Weasley. "Dumbledore will take care of all that."

"I don't have any faith in Dumbledore though," scowled Harry. He was still furious with the man for prohibiting his friends from contacting him. "He's lost too much influence lately. His word doesn't mean much to a lot of wizards these days."

Mrs Weasley was worried. On one hand, she had faith in Dumbledore, on the other though she knew that Harry was right. A lot of people weren't listening to Dumbledore these days.

"Okay, Harry," she grumbled. "But Sirius is to stay with you. There's no way he'd let you near dark magic. And lock the door Sirius once you're in there. If it's unlocked Hermione will try her hardest to get in there."

Harry ignored Hermione's pleading face as he and his godfather went upstairs to the library.

"What books are you looking for Harry?" asked Sirius, once he re-locked the door.

"The Parseltongue books you told me about last night."

"Ah, okay," said Sirius. "But I'm also going to take out the law books. The Black's helped draft several laws before the founding of the Ministry. Maybe there's something there we can use."

Half an hour later Harry was halfway reading a book on Parseltongue called The Language of the Serpent by Aders Famone. It was a deep study of the Parseltongue language as studied by the Greek. Harry was finding the book absolutely enthralling when Sirius let out a gasp, surprising Harry. He had forgotten his godfather was in the room with him.

"Harry, look at this."

Harry looked at Sirius' book on laws and his eyes went wide.

"The Ministry just cut its own throat," smiled Harry. "I'm going to mention this at my hearing."

"You better," grinned Sirius. "Sooner we get Fudge out of office the better."

Harry chuckled and went back to reading his own book. Sirius started taking notes as Harry read away, trying to get the old laws on written format. He found several anomalies in how the Ministry handled Harry's case. He smiled as he wrote. Some of the laws were so archaic he doubted the Death Eaters even knew about them. He knew these old laws would not have been overturned. There were too many traditionalists in the Ministry that would refuse to overturn them.

But he also had a bad feeling as he kept reading. Harry's hearing wasn't for another week, but he knew that Fudge would have no control over it while they would be preparing for it. Fudge probably knew they would try to prepare for it. He had a bad feeling Fudge would try to control it from another angle, something surprising, something unexpected.

There was an order meeting tonight. He would ask Kingsley to check for him. Kingsley was one of Fudge's most trusted aides. The man's reputation as an Auror often had him acting as security for the man and he was highly regarded by his administration.

So that night when everyone was gone to bed the Order meeting started. Sirius was so focused on his thoughts he was able to ignore Severus' snide remarks about him, his house, and his godson.

"Anything else to be added to this conversation tonight?" queried Dumbledore.

"I have something to say, Dumbledore," Sirius chimed in.

"And what could the mutt have to say that is important," sneered Severus. "He can't leave the house to find out anything."

With great effort Sirius ignored him.

"I brought Harry into the Black Library today to hopefully help him with his upcoming hearing," said Sirius. "I found old laws that would help in his favour. But I also realised something. Fudge probably knows we are preparing for the hearing and would likely win. But I fear he is biding his time to have it overturned last minute to be a trial which we would be unprepared for."

"Nonsense, Sirius," said Dumbledore calmly. "I think you are overreacting."

"Well, I don't think so," said Sirius hotly. "Kingsley, can you possibly find out what Fudge is planning to do."

"When is the next Order meeting?" asked Kingsley.

"We don't need an Order meeting for the answer," said Dumbledore. "I will be here tomorrow night at ten."

All of the next day Sirius nerves were frayed as he read the law books next to Harry as the boy was on his third Parseltongue book that was about a forgotten form of magic called Parselmagic. Luckily Harry didn't notice his nerves and just sat there reading intently.

When night rolled around he met with Dumbledore and Arthur in the kitchen. Before long they were joined by Kingsley.

"I am afraid Sirius was correct," grumbled Kingsley furiously. "Cornelius is planning to have Harry charged with underage magic in front of the whole Wizengamot early in the morning. Dolores is planning for a letter to be sent to Harry at the last minute in hopes he'll miss it so that he'll be expelled in absentia."

Dumbledore nodded in understanding. "Thank you, Kingsley," he said sagely. "But we now have the situation in hand. Sirius gave me the law book on several archaic treaties by the House Of Lords that predated the Wizards Council. We'll be able to beat them with laws they've never heard of. I checked the laws myself. You were right Sirius, the traditionalists never overturned them. Cornelius would never be able to overturn them as he'll lose support fast. He won't risk it. We've already got the upper hand."

"What about Harry himself?" asked Kingsley. "Should he be told?"

"Yes, he should," conceded Dumbledore. "But tell him to carry on as if it really was just a hearing. That way, he won't have a solicitor so we can catch them at their game. They will not provide one despite laws mandating them too. The Daily Prophet will just print the word the Ministry tells them to, so we'll arrange for The Quibbler, Witch Weekly, Potions Illustrated, and Quidditch Magazine to be there. Their reporting will reach a wider demographic, and will help display their utter incompetence. The distrust after that will help the war effort."

And with that the four-man meeting came to a close.

The next day Sirius told Harry the full story of what the Ministry were going to do. Harry was furious and tried to smash a bookcase, but Sirius calmed in down in time and explained everything to him. By the end Harry had a sharklike smile that Sirius had never seen him wear before, and then he started laughing.

Harry let Sirius lead him to the sofa by the fireplace and picked up his book, returning to the land of Parseltongue.

The next day Harry and Sirius stayed in the library all day rehearsing everything Harry was going to say to the Wizengamot. Dumbledore's plan was for Harry to know all the laws and speak them verbatim to the entire Wizengamot. Harry would be able to catch them off-guard and gain respect from the traditionalists for his extensive knowledge on old laws. Fudge would try and go against them to get his own way and they all knew the traditionalists wouldn't stand for that, hopefully gaining a few or more supporters from them. The more people the Order could recruit for the war effort the better.

By bedtime Sirius and Harry were exhausted. Mrs Weasley exempted Harry from housework since Harry needed to be prepared. She was told of what was happening and she was disgusted. They barely managed to dissuade her from sending Cornelius Fudge a howler. Instead she took her anger out on Mundungus when he showed up with stolen goods one afternoon.

Mrs Weasley had prepared Harry's best robes for the trial that was to take place tomorrow.

Harry lay on the bed thinking away on everything he was going to say. When he noticed the time, he calmed down his thoughts so he could fall asleep, smiling as he did so at the way he would overturn the Wizengamot in the morning. He felt a vindictive, seething pleasure in his bones on what he would do when he finally fell asleep.

AN: Welcome to my new story. I had written this idea about seven years ago, but then one of my most recent chapters on EFTG made me remember it. The locket will affect Harry and make him bad tempered, dark, intolerable, and swearing (hence the rating). He will not suffer fools and demands information. He will not sit back quietly. Enjoy!